DEMS ALREADY HAMMERING PORTMAN

It looks likely that Ohio Democrats won’t have a Senate candidate until after the primary next May, with Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher both going full steam ahead on their campaigns. But that hasn’t stopped the Ohio Democratic Party from getting a jump on introducing Rob Portman, the likely Republican candidate, to voters outside his home base in Southwestern Ohio. The ODP has just launched RobertPortman.com, branding him “Architect of the Bush Economy.”

Learn about his record as a congressman and a cheerleader for tax cuts for the wealthy. Learn how he helped push the CAFTA free-trade deal through Congress, promising that it was a “good deal” for the U.S. and “really beneficial to U.S. workers,” and promising “We’ll have a trade surplus as a result of this.” (Subsequently, of course, the trade deficit increased and hundreds of thousands more manufacturing jobs vanished). And learn how, after Portman became George Bush’s director of the Office of Budget and Management, the budget deficit almost doubled. Best thing: the “contribute” button on the home page. If you click on it, rather than a contribution form you get a message that says “After the Bush-Portman administration, you don’t have enough money to contribute.” — Anastasia Pantsios

This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2009.